A number of different surface cleaning devices utilizing adhesive sheets or webs have been developed for cleaning various surfaces. The majority of these devices include a single roller having a sheet of material with a tackified outer surface disposed on the exterior of the roller that is capable of picking up lint, dust and other debris on the surface as the roller is contacted with the surface. As the roller moves along the surface, the tackified surface contacts and adheres to the lint, dust and debris on the surface, thereby lifting the debris off of the surface and onto the roller.
However, with regard to cleaning devices of this type, the roller has a limited number of uses. This is because the adhesive material on the exterior of the roller must be continually cleaned or replaced based on the amount of debris that is adhered to the roller as it moves across the surface.
In order to overcome this shortcoming, other cleaning devices have been developed that include a pair of rollers between which are connected a continuous web of an adhesive sheet material. In these devices, the adhesive sheet material can be advanced from a web supply roller toward a web take-up roller as the device is used in order to provide a number of sequential clean sections of the adhesive sheet web when the previous section has collected a sufficient amount of lint, dust or debris to render the previous section no longer usable. Because the adhesive sheet is continually moved onto the take-up roll and off of the supply roll, the device can readily present a clean section of the adhesive sheet for use in cleaning a surface.
Examples of devices of this type include Hester U.S. Pat. No. 4,083,075 that discloses a lint pickup device that includes a pair of rollers formed as a supply roller and a take-up roller that are disposed within a cartridge and which support a continuous web of an adhesive sheet utilized to clean carpets, rugs and other surfaces of lint. The rollers are connected to one another and to a ratcheting gear mechanism that selectively exposes additional sections of the adhesive material web from the supply roller in order to enable an individual to continuously clean a surface. However, the rollers do not allow for the web to move continuously between the rollers when the device is in use, such that the device cannot be moved continuously over a surface to pickup lint, dust and other debris from the surface.
Blum et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,735,806 discloses another device of this type including a tacky roller for improved surface cleaning in which a continuous sheet of a tackified web is applied to a surface to clean the surface. The web is supported by a pair of rollers disposed within the device and by a number of contact rollers which maintain the web in contact with the surface to be cleaned as the web moves continuously between the rollers. The device also includes a brush that contacts and provides additional cleaning to the surface.
Still another cleaning device of this type is shown in Plankenhorn U.S. Pat. No. 6,859,976 which discloses a cleaning apparatus with continuous action wiping and sweeping having a continuous web of an adhesive sheet material connected between a supply roller and a take-up roller. The web of the adhesive material is advanced from the supply roller onto the take-up roller by a variety of mechanisms, in order to provide the device with a continually clean tackified portion of the web for cleaning purposes.
However, in each of the prior art devices including a supply roller and a take-up roller supporting an adhesive material web, the mechanisms for advancing the web of adhesive material allows for the advancement of material substantially in one direction, such that the devices cannot be utilized to make multiple passes or swipes over a surface to provide enhanced cleaning of the surface. Also, the prior art devices do not illustrate mechanisms for controlling the rotation of the supply end and take-up rollers that can accommodate the changing amounts of the web disposed on each roller, and the corresponding changing rotational speeds of the rollers, to keep the web properly tensioned at all times.
Therefore, it is desirable to develop a cleaning device utilizing a web of an adhesive or tackified sheet material that allows the material to be passed in a continuous motion over a surface in opposite directions to provide enhanced cleaning to the surface, as well as to be advanced from the supply roller to the take-up roller to provide a clean section of the web when desired. It is also desirable that the device control the rotation of the rollers in a synchronized manner to proper tension the web during use of the device and that the web properly contact the surface to be cleaned.